Take in a Breath of Fresh Air!

This will be the second year for the Breath of Fresh Air talent show at the Sanderson Centre, brought to you by The Crew Real Estate in association with Murky Productions. The sponsors of the show are all local, as is the talent. Acts auditioned by sending in videos of their performances which were then voted on by the public. The 10 winners will be performing on the Sanderson Stage – short previews are available to view on the BOFA website. This show is a breath of fresh air both because of the novelty of the performers, and because they will also be donating $5000 from the proceeds of the show to The City of Brantford’s Tree Planting Program to plant much needed trees in our community. What a fresh idea!

Performing on stage will be:

Jack Demarest, playing guitar and singing a cover song (it will be a surprise!), hails from Princeton and was the winner of Brantford Has Talent.

Woodstock’s Matt Huddleston is branching off from his band ‘I’m of Vintage” as a solo act, and will be playing guitar and singing his own composition. He has many musical influences and plays many venues – he’s a busy guy!

Uploaded is an Indie rock group who have been playing together for about a year. They have been playing venues like Club NV, Grand Bayou and Springtime in Paris. They hope that this will give them some more exposure and they are having fun!

Limitless is a hip hop dance troup from Brantford. “This is a great opportunity to perform with a great group of girls” says their instructor who is also one of the performers.

Innershia is a pop rock group -the band members are from Brantford and 6 nations and have performed all over, including Frankies, Mannies, Two Doors Down. The backing band often changes but the lead singer and songwriter Kristen Bezemer says she makes music “to inspire others to believe in themselves and their dreams.” We look forward to being inspired!

Jocelyn Fairman sings, and plays guitar and piano. She encompasses many genres in her compositions. Originally from Hamilton, she now calls Brantford home and says ” This is my lifelong ambition and passion. I am excited to be singing at the Sanderson Centre and have this opportunity to be on a wonderful stage!”

Cory Mercer, is a singer/songwriter from Brantford that will be performing an original song, ‘Shut Up (and tell me you love me)’. Cory states he has been performing in one way or another since he was a child, but only in the last two years has been fortunate enough to professionally pursue music full time. He states “I have seen so many great artists performing at the Sanderson Center stage, and now that I get to be one, performing my own material, is kind of surreal. But I do believe it, and I’m ready.”

All the way from Port Dover, Faith Sharpe sings and plays guitar. She will be playing a cover by Lia Marie Johnson, called DNA which she kept hearing being played and felt that it was a perfect song for her to perform. This is her second time at BOFA and she knows what to expect from the idea of playing such a large venue. She thinks this time around for it to be more fun because she will be more familiar and comfortable with the space.

Kylie Angel, a singer from Hamilton, will be performing a Disney song, which she has never done before. She has been performing since she was 9 years old and believes “it is an honour and a privilege to perform on the Sanderson Stage – it will be magical!”

Brantford’s Chris Strei, plays guitar and sings folk/alt rock. He attended Recording Arts Canada in Toronto to study audio engineering and release 3 projects, written and produced by himself. With no family roots in music, it’s tough to say where his passion comes from, it’s just always been there.

All of the contestants want to give a big thank you to the Crew and the City of Brantford for making cool stuff like this happen. The winner gets $5000 and the city gets $5000 towards tree planting. Amazing!

When asked how the show differs from Brantford Has Talent, Joshua Wall, one of the key organisers and MC for the show responded “They’re entirely different animals. Ours was about giving a opportunity to perform on stage at the Sanderson Centre to a crowd that was there solely for them. It’s an illustrious venue that has performers come from all over the world to perform. We spoke with the organizers of Brantford Has Talent and determined that while we have similar goals, our methods and outcome are different. We’re thrilled to know that there are two (or more) opportunities for performers to compete, and we know that we’ve had some of their competitors and they have had some of ours. The city is so full of talent there needs to be two shows!” From the sounds of it, there certainly is enough talent to go around, and what is better than an opportunity to show your skills? Two opportunities to do so!

If last year’s show is anything to go by, we are in for another treat!

Breath of Fresh Air Talent Show 2018, Friday June 1 – 7pm, Sanderson Centre. Get your tickets and the Sanderson Center box office or at breathoffreshairtalent.com